Occupy SD group removed from bus in Texas

Occupy San Diego members after being removed from a bus in Amarillo, Texas, Saturday night en route to a protest event called Occupy Congress in Washington, D.C. — Occupy San Diego | Road2Congress

Occupy San Diego members traveling to Washington, D.C., for Tuesday's protest by various segments of the movement made national news the night before when political commentator Keith Olbermann bestowed his nightly "Worst Persons in the World" title on a Greyhound Lines driver who had removed the group from his bus.

The bus incident happened in Amarillo, Texas, on Saturday night.

Olbermann said witnesses reported that the driver "was a little testy, demanded his passengers get in a single file and shouted at them that they had to sit down immediately or he wouldn't drive." The treatment got worse from there, according to the Occupiers, but the driver's story is much different.

As Olbermann relayed the anecdote, the driver asked one Occupier to leave and when that person explained he was traveling with a group, the bus driver said, "All of you Occupy people off my bus," and later added, "Anyone else support Occupy? You can get off too."

Olbermann recounted a version of events that was first reported by the local website OB Rag on Sunday and then later and in greater detail on the same site by San Diego activist Eugene Davidovich, one of the Occupiers traveling across the country.

Olbermann then shared Greyhound's response, which it also posted Sunday, on Twitter.

That tweet reads: "Hi All, we are aware of the Occupy Congress situation. We have notified executive management. We appreciate your patience."

In his segment, Olbermann criticized the Greyhound Lines driver by name.

A local Amarillo television station did not name the driver but reported that he has been with the company for more than 20 years. KFDA TV in Amarillo, Texas, reported that the driver has been taken out of the Greyhound rotation while the company, which handles nearly 25 million passengers a year, conducts an internal investigation.

The KFDA story said: "While it's Greyhound policy to refuse service to people who are being unruly and disruptive, they're interviewing everyone on the bus because the protestors and the driver have very different stories."

The text of Olbermann's Monday night segment follows, and related video can be found on the second page of this post:

Thirteen members of various California Occupy groups were traveling by bus from San Diego to Washington for tomorrow's Occupy Congress. In Amarillo, Texas, on Saturday night, they were transferred to Mr. Ainsworth's bus. Witnesses say that driver was a little testy, demanded his passengers get in a single file and shouted at them that they had to sit down immediately or he wouldn't drive.

(Occupier Michael) Ponsler asked why he was being so rude, at which point the driver ordered Ponsler off the bus. Ponsler explained he was part of a group traveling together. He said Ainsworth then rather unexpectedly yelled, "All of you Occupy people off my bus."

How did he know they were Occupy?

Another protester said the driver insisted, "You are not welcome in Washington or anywhere else," and asked other passengers, "Anyone else support Occupy? You can get off too."

In Amarillo, Ainsworth made it to the Greyhound terminal, locked the bus with all passengers inside, met with bus line officials and police for an hour and eventually had the luggage of the 13 passengers removed.

The Occupy account has the police officer accompanying the driver removing the members, with the policeman telling them that he knew Ainsworth’s attitude was poor but by law he had the right to remove passengers if he deemed them inebriated or threatening in some way.

The 13 got another bus on Sunday morning. Forty-eight hours later, Greyhound's only response to this remarkable set of developments is a single tweet sent yesterday reading, "Hi All, we are aware of the Occupy Congress situation. We have notified executive management. We appreciate your patience."

For kicking off 13 occupiers for being RBWO, riding while being in Occupy, driver Donald Ainsworth and Greyhound Bus Lines, today's worst persons in the world.